The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Providing in-flight entertainment is an important component of air travel, and as technology has advanced, available options for in-flight entertainment have expanded. Wireless networking has opened the door to many different modes of entertainment delivery in in-flight entertainment systems.
However, within the confines of an aircraft or other vehicle there exists a limited amount of unlicensed, unrestricted available bandwidth within the commonly adopted spectrums (e.g., WiFi, cellular, etc.). As the amount of network-capable devices both within an aircraft and carried on by passengers increases, the amount of bandwidth for reliable delivery of content decreases.
The 60 GHz spectrum provides an alternative to the WiFi and cellular bands that allows for very fast data transfers, but it is subject to very severe attenuation by air and as such, has very limited range. Additionally, it is very sensitive to disruption by obstacles and other environment factors, requiring line-of-sight communications. As such, the 60 GHz spectrum has traditionally not been suitable for crowded environments such as the inside of an aircraft.
Additionally, as available bandwidth within an aircraft becomes increasingly reserved or otherwise restricted, the available frequencies for transmission become limited and frequency-hopping to resolve transmission conflicts may not be available as an option. However, in an environment having many access points and many clients, there exists a high potential for interference among devices transmitting on the same frequency band, thus disrupting communications.
Thus, there still exists a need for improved in-flight wireless networking solutions for the distribution of information to airline Passenger Electronic Devices (PEDs) and aircraft equipment.